Drug Price Disclosure Rule Rejected Again

On June 16, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld a ruling from a year ago that struck down a federal regulation requiring pharmaceutical companies to disclose wholesale prices of prescription drugs in television advertisements. The appeals court agreed with the lower court’s opinion that the rule exceeded the legal authority of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Amgen Inc., Eli Lilly & Co. and Merck & Co. Inc. had filed suit challenging the rule, which was previously discussed here. The appeals court found that the price disclosure requirement “bears at best a tenuous, confusing, and potentially harmful relationship to the Medicare and Medicaid programs.”